


once you cross the line

by ifyoudontknow



Category: Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Clary is an actual angel and the voice of the reason, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Jace is a tiny bit mean, M/M, there's jace/clary and simon/izzy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-29 03:14:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7667998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifyoudontknow/pseuds/ifyoudontknow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jace and Simon challenge Alec to date Magnus Bane. Magnus agrees to Alec's plan to evade his friends' idiotic idea. Clary doesn't like it and Jace, Izzy and Simon have found a new couple to ship. </p>
<p>But don't agreements like this always end in heartbreak?</p>
<p>(malec fake dating university au)</p>
            </blockquote>





	once you cross the line

**Author's Note:**

> //PSA: English isn't my first language.//
> 
> Hello. Phew. I only started this fic in february2015 and it's finally done! It's my proud and joy. It's a University AU with fake dating because I love that stuff. It's inspired by both the show (mostly) and the books. 
> 
> The title is from Ruelle's Monsters because well, I'm terrible. 
> 
> I hope everything flows alright (bc dialogue is my strength and the rest is not), and that you like it. :$

Alec hates his friends sometimes. He might not be proud of it, but sometimes, he does. Basically, Jace and Simon (Isabelle too) can be the biggest assholes on the planet when they try to be. It makes them feel so tough, something Alec always has to tell them they’re not. They might always deny it but they’re rather soft. 

 

“Jace, I’m not gonna fuck with someone’s emotions for a mere 50 bucks. You are clearly delusional.” Alec leans his head into his hand, an unamused expression on his face. His fingers tapping a self-made rhythm on the table, trying to keep himself from losing his mind out of boredom. He has four friends with him at all times, or well, two siblings and their partners who he tolerates, but at times he gets bored anyways. 

 

“It’s not… It’s just Bane! He could use some excitement in his life besides his make-up.” Jace says while he raved on and on about what a great idea it would be for Alec to go date Magnus Bane, a guy in their English Lit class who happened to be some sort of magician with words. And it wasn’t even the case that Jace came up with this entire thing because Alec had a weird, creepy crush on Magnus or anything, he honestly doesn’t. No, it started with Jace daring Alec to date simply anybody who wandered around the cafeteria, and when he spotted Magnus, the poor boy became Jace’s target. 

 

“Jace, you’re being a dick. Simon, tell Jace he’s being a dick.” 

 

In retaliation, Simon throws up his hands while chewing on his burger. Alec’s happy enough that he swallows his food before replying. “I want no part in this. All I want is for the winner to take me out to dinner.” He says before taking another bite that’s way too big to fit his mouth. Alec should’ve known that if Simon wasn’t going to side with Jace, he’d try to stay neutral. Never getting on Alec’s side unless Izzy forced him too. Alec wished the girls were here right now to save him from this madness.

 

“Okay, Alec, a hundred bucks! But the dating has to be for three months!”

 

“Jace, stop being so ridiculous and disgusting! I won’t do it!” Alec’s actually getting pissed off now. His hands are folded over his chest, accompanied by a pout on his lips. He needs new friends. And new siblings. It wasn’t okay for his brother to try and convince him to lure a harmless guy into dating him, for a whole three months. 

 

Magnus Bane was the stereotype of a very nice guy. He was barely spotted without a smile on his face. He puts words together like he’s the god of poetry, and besides that, he’d heard that Magnus was quite magical. He was like a mystery that everyone tried to solve and Alec was the last one to try and wipe that constant smile off of his face. Jace’s idea was cruel. Alec wanted nothing more than to drop the subject and move on. 

 

“Fine! Two hundred! But that’s my final offer and there will be rules. You will have to date for three months and it starts on the day of your first date, not when you ask him out. There has to be kissing involved unless, of course, he refuses to kiss you for some reason. No actual sexual harassment allowed.” Never in his existence had Alec ever wished for Clary to be here, just to keep her boyfriend in check.

 

“50 as a bonus if you manage to get in his pants.” Simon adds on, not looking at any of the other boys, his gaze fixed on his food. Jace stares at him with a surprised look on his face. “I thought you weren’t getting involved?” Jace asks Simon, putting his hands in his sides even though he’s sitting in an uncomfortable cafeteria chair. Simon just shrugs and starts munching on the cookie he bought. 

 

200 bucks… Maybe even 250. Not that’s a lot of money… Alec would finally be able to purchase a mini-fridge for his dorm-room… Or at least, he wouldn’t have to save up his precious money for months and months to come. It can be tough being a poor college student.

 

That’s when Alec thinks of his worst plan ever. 

 

“Okay, fine, I’ll do it. I’ll date Magnus Bane for three months. And if I win, I  _ will _ get the money.” Alec grabs his things and storms out of the cafeteria, leaving his comrades behind. 

 

* * *

 

Alec hadn’t seen Magnus around campus all day, so at night, he decided to go over his dorm-room to put his plan into action. Alec knows which number Magnus lives behind, because he’d heard Magnus say it this one time. And okay, that sounded a lot less creepy in his head before he actually thought it through. After dinner, Alec made his way to the other set of dorms. 

 

Alec and Magnus weren’t friends per se. More like acquaintances who shared a class or two.

 

His hands were shaking, feeling clammy as he’s nearing Magnus’ dorm room. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say, at all. What do you say to someone when you barely talk to them in day to day life? Simply saying “Hi, I’m Alec. Please date me.” seems out of the question. He could see the right door now, and after about another 20 steps, he was right in front of it. Alec doesn’t know how long he was standing before the door before mustering up the courage to knock.

 

Alec knocks. Three times and he’s wondering whether or not that was too much. He should’ve just knocked twice, that would’ve been so much better, not as desperate. He’s got no time to scold himself anymore because the door opens, revealing the man he needs: Magnus Bane. 

 

“Hi.” Alec squeaks out, a small wave accompanying his words. He immediately feels awkward and rubs the back of his neck to get rid of the feeling,

 

“Hey.” Magnus replies, a confused look on his face. Alec doesn’t blame him though, he’d be confused as well if Magnus had just randomly knocked on  _ his  _ door. 

 

“So uhm…” Alec stammers. He is being absolutely ridiculous. This was how nervous he was tolerated to be if he was actually asking someone out. He’s not. He just needs to ask him a question. He tells Magnus. “I need to ask you, like, this thing… Can we talk somewhere private or something? Like where your roommate isn’t listening?” Alec manages to get the words out at once, not even stuttering in any of the sentences. Alec counts that as his personal achievement of the day. 

 

Magnus blinks. Once. Twice. Then a small smile appears on his face. “Sure. Let me grab a hoodie and my keys.” And with that, Magnus disappears from the door.

 

Alec clenches his eyes shut. He could punch himself in the face. How could he ever pull this whole thing off if he was already nervous just saying ‘hi’ to the boy.

 

To be fair, he did have a big, rather life changing question to ask Magnus.

 

“Let’s go.” Magnus had apparently returned, and when Alec opens his eyes he sees Magnus locking up his dorm-room. “Where did you plan on going?” Magnus asks him, walking in the direction of the dorm’s exit. Alec quickly follows. 

 

“Somewhere no one can overhear us, I guess…” Alec says softly, he wonders if Magnus could even hear him.

 

“You’re making me very curious, Alexander.” Apparently he  _ had  _ heard Alec, and okay, no one ever called him Alexander. There was still a smile on Magnus’ face. The smile that’s always there. Permanently edged right there. Reminding a lot of girls and guys on campus of rays of sunshine.

 

“Does the little green bench right outside of campus sound good? It’s usually empty and at this time at night, there shouldn’t be a lot of cars passing by.” Magnus offers and Alec nods, trying to keep up with Magnus’ quicker pace.

 

The rest of the three minute walk is spend in silence. Magnus probably has no idea what’s going on and Alec is still trying to figure out what to say. At this point, he’s convinced he won’t figure it out and that he’ll simply wait for himself to simply spit out the words, possibly in the wrong order. They reach the bench and it’s empty and kind of quiet in the area, like Magnus predicted. Magnus sits down and Alec follows suit. 

 

He looks at Magnus and takes a deep breath.

 

“Will you date me? No wait.” Wrong. Alec facepalms, his hand colliding with his forehead a little too hard. “Ouch. That came out wrong. Hold on.” He puts his head in his hand and he leans his elbows on his knees. He’s an idiot. A really big one, at that.

 

Magnus puts his hand on Alec’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. Relax. We’ve got time.” He says and Alec groans. Why is he like this? Why can’t he function like a normal human being? Why is his brother such a pain in the ass? He takes another deep breath and starts over. He perks up and stares right past Magnus, knocking Magnus’ hand of his shoulder in the process.

 

“Here’s the thing. My idiot brother and brother-in-law, Jace and Simon, well, mostly Jace actually. Jace is a real dick. They uhm… They sort of went like ‘hey, date this guy for three months and we’ll pay you, and if you sleep with him, we’ll give a bonus!’ Like, how rude is that? But it’s like. They said that this guys has to be you. And I was like, that’s so fucking cruel! I would never ever do that to anyone. What if they actually end up liking me and stuff? But, they offered 250 bucks and that is so much money and I could use it so I thought… And I know I’m crazy but, hear me out okay?” Alec changes his gaze to Magnus, who’s listening intensely to Alec’s rambling. “What if we were to pretend. I mean, we could pretend to date, for three months. You know? We’ll have to kiss in front of Jace and the rest and also lie to them but I don’t mind if you don’t. And like, the benefit for you is obviously that we’ll split the money, so, you’d get 125 if we convince them we’ve slept together and it’s most likely a bad idea but-”

 

And Alec’s monologue is cut off by a pair of lips on his. The whole ordeal takes less than a second, Alec is sure, but it feels nice. Magnus is close, really close. His eyes wide open and the corners of his lips curved upwards. 

 

“How idiotic this might sound, I’m always up for a challenge. And, the price of 125 bucks to teach your friends a little lesson only seems fair.”

 

Alec’s brain is malfunctioning. Did Magnus just agree to his all around dumb and flawed plan? He did, didn’t he?

 

“Did you just say yes?” Alec verifies with his eyes wide in shock. Magnus giggles. He giggles. He’d heard Magnus laugh before, but he’d never heard him giggle. 

 

“Yeah, sure, should be fun. Plus, that’s a lot of easy-made cash!” 

 

Okay, so Alec was totally convinced beforehand that he would be slapped across the face as soon as he told Magnus about his plan. He wasn’t prepared for Magnus to agree… He hadn’t thought that far ahead. Because if Magnus went along with the plan, it would mean that he would actually have to fake-date him. He’d have to act. He’d have to pretend he’d tricked the boy into dating him. For three months, nonetheless.

 

He’d have to lie to his siblings and their partners as if a guy like Magnus would want to date him.

 

So naturally, Alec says the first thing that springs to mind: “You’d have to kiss me and stuff…” 

 

“Alexander, I just kissed you square on the mouth just to say yes to your plan. I think I can manage with kissing you some more.” Magnus scoots closer to Alec and wraps an arm around his shoulders, pulling Alec closer to him. “Calm down. Your friends asked you to do the impossible, and we’re gonna show them how it can backfire, alright?”

 

Alec nods. The shock hasn’t completely worn off yet, but he feels okay being so close to Magnus. 

 

Maybe they can pull this off.

 

* * *

 

“No way… No way, no way. No way in hell he said yes!” Jace shrieks out, he actually stands up from his bed to pace across his dorm-room, causing Clary to topple over. 

 

“I can’t believe you actually did it, Alec. I didn’t think you were the type.” Clary says as she situates herself on her boyfriend’s bed. Alec was never too overly fond of Clary, but the hint of disappointment in her voice stings. 

 

When Alec had calmed down the previous night and his rational thinking came back to him, he and Magnus went over a bunch of details. Magnus would have to act all clueless, like a lovesick puppy who was ecstatic that Alec had asked him out. He’d have to try to get Jace’s and Isabelle’s approval for dating their older brother, he’d have to pretend to grow feelings for Alec as time progressed. 

 

On the other hand, Alec would have to be grumpy for 80% of the time, which wouldn’t be hard. Telling his siblings he hated them more than he normally did, also not the most difficult task. He’d have to make sure Jace and Simon wouldn’t suspect that Magnus is in on all of it. Alec would have to lie to them for three very long months. 

 

But Simon and Jace, especially Jace, deserved it. They had put Alec into this position. It wasn’t Alec’s fault. He’d take them out to Taki’s after this was all over though, and he’d pay. He’d already decided that for himself. 

 

Alec and Magnus had also agreed to keep the rest of their relationship as close to the truth as possible. That way, it would be easier for the both of them. Meaning, Alec had asked him out on that green bench right outside of campus and Magnus had said yes with a big smile on his face after a small kiss on the lips. Their so-called dates would be friendly. They’d go out and do something fun, couple-y details would be discussed during the dates. 

 

In front of Alec’s entourage, they’d gradually show more PDA. More and more handholding as the time went on. Small kisses here and there, and more passionate kisses to piss them all off. 

Lastly, they decided it would be best to tell everyone else who asked that they were a couple. This includes Magnus’ roommate Raphael. This way, no one one could (accidentally) expose them to Alec’s friends. It was a secret between the two of them. No one needed to know the truth.

 

“Well, he did. And I did. So.” Alec replies, scrolling through his twitter-feed, purposely avoiding the gazes of his friends. He wasn’t really reading any tweets though, he was afraid his friends, mainly his sister Isabelle, would see right through him and that they would call him out and would tell him he wasn’t going to win the money. 

 

“So now what, you’re like, when’s the first date then? When’s the three months starting?”

 

Alec mentally scolds himself. Out of everything he’d discussed with Magnus, he’d completely forgotten to actually schedule the first date with him. “Friday.” He’d have to make Magnus cancel all other plans. Alec currently dislikes himself with a passion.

 

“Okay. Friday. The thirteenth. Good pick, Alec.” Simon chimes in, an amused smirk on his face. Jace plops back down on his bed, fighting Clary for some space to place his legs. 

 

“So where are you taking him?” Clary pitches in.

 

His phone falls from his fingers, onto Simon’s questionable mattress. Alec has no idea when he changed his sheets last.

 

“Oh you know. The usual. Dinner, and, things.” 

 

“I still can’t believe he said yes to you.” Jace says, with emphasis on ‘to you’, and okay, that does hurt Alec’s feelings a little bit. 

 

“Thanks Jace. You’re a true friend. Can always rely on you for a peptalk.” Alec says, grabbing his phone and opening his messages. He feels the urge to send a text to Magnus right now, to ask about how they’d forgotten to plan their first date. About how bad it felt to lie, even though his friends deserved every moment of it.

 

His thumb hovers over Magnus’ name. He can see Magnus’ last message from the night before, ‘we’ll figure it out x’, regarding to Alec’s still skittish behaviour until they parted last night. They’d exchanged numbers and Magnus had put a heart behind Alec’s name, claiming it would look more convincing if someone were to steal his phone. Alec hadn’t done that yet, though he might change it later.

 

Alec heard an ‘oompf’ and a ‘get off of me’ before he felt a weight on him. His sister, who’d been quiet the whole time was hanging over Simon to wrap her arms around Alec’s neck. “Alec, you know we love you. And, I’m very proud. You might actually get laid soon!” She says, her face pressed up against Alec’s chest. Alec lifts her up, puts her in Simon’s lap and leaves his spot.

 

“Okay, I’ll be going now. Have fun being, you know, terrible friends.” And with that, Alec leaves Jace and Simon’s dorm-room, heading towards his own. 

 

Maybe he was exaggerating, but Alec was kind of hurt by his friends. Nor per se by their words just then, but because of the fact that they had put Alec in this spot. He knew it for sure now: Jace is a dick. And so is Simon. Sometimes. Only Clary, of all people, seemed to be on his side. Alec sighs and is happy when he sees his own door. Maybe some sleep will ease his feelings. 

 

* * *

 

The next time Alec sees Magnus, most of his nerves have disappeared. He could actually think straight, and have a decent conversation with his new ‘boyfriend’. 

 

They had just gone on their ‘first date’ and now they were walking back to campus, hand in hand. It had kind of surprised Alec how serious Magnus was taking this. But Magnus had said that they would have to convince everyone on the planet of their relationship, so acting like just friends in public was out of  the question. 

 

Alec knows Magnus is right, but it slightly worries him just how nice it feels to hold Magnus’ hand.

 

“You’re doing it again.” Alec hears Magnus say, a teasing tone in his voice. Alec looks over to him and sees a smile on his face.  _ The  _ smile. 

 

“What?”

 

“You’re staring blankly ahead of you while contemplating if what we’re doing is justified. It is. Trust me. Relax and enjoy being with me, darling.” Magnus’ words go with a squeeze of his hand. It feels comforting to Alec. 

 

“I am.” Alec starts softly. “I mean, I do. Enjoy this. I enjoyed tonight. Had fun… Yeah.” He’s never been the best with words but it annoys him that he’s struggling again, after it had gone so well all night.

 

Magnus retaliates by swinging their hands up and down in between them. “Me too, Alexander. Stop stressing out.” 

 

“What are we gonna do on Monday though? During English Lit? Jace and Izzy will be there.”

 

Magnus giggles. During the night, Alec had heard that giggle multiple times. It was endearing. 

 

“We’ll sit next to each other, like normal people.” Magnus stops walking, making Alec turn back to him. He takes Alec’s other hand as well, pulling him a little closer. “Just maybe, a little closer than considered normal for just friends.” He pulls Alec even closer to him, making them just an inch apart from each other. “Just shoulder to shoulder though, we’ve only been on one date, remember?” 

 

Alec does remember. But Magnus is close. And god, Alec has been out of a relationship for ages. Alec kind of wants Magnus to kiss him. Just a tiny, little peck on the lips…

 

All he gets however, is another squeeze in each hand. 

 

“We’re at your building, Alec. Want me to walk you to your room?” Alec’s head snaps up. Magnus’ right, they  _ are  _ at his building, and he hadn’t even noticed. Too engrossed in Magnus’ proximity to notice any of the surroundings. 

 

“No no, that’s fine. Thank you, for you know, everything…” Alec trails of. He feels like he hasn’t properly thanked Magnus yet, for agreeing to all of this, 

 

“My pleasure, Alexander. I will see you on Monday!” And with that, Magnus is gone, walking towards his own dorm building, leaving Alec to watch him until he’s out of view.  
  


* * *

 

Dating Magnus was easier than Alec had expected beforehand. They’d go on dates (and Isabelle would interrogate him afterwards) and they’d talk about how to make it sound as couple-y as possible. They would hold hands while on their dates and share a kiss at the end of them. All to make it look as real as possible.

 

Some dates however, weren’t out and about. They had spend a couple of evenings in Alec’s dorm-room, and a couple in Magnus’. They were usually alone in either one, seeing as Magnus’ roommate was out and about a lot. He said he preferred the night over day. 

 

This night, they were in Magnus’ dorm-room. Alec liked spending time in here. Magnus had put a lot of thought into the decor of the room and it made it look very home-ly. It was warm and cozy, especially compared to Alec’s bare walls and standard wooden furniture pieces. 

 

Alec was situated on a rather large, extremely soft chair, while Magnus was lounging on his bed. They had fallen into a comfortable silence. Something he could never really have done with anyone outside of his siblings. But with Magnus, everything was rather easy. 

 

“So tell me about yourself.” Magnus asks while turning towards Alec. He was now partly dangling off the side of his bed, his head upside down facing Alec. It made him smile. 

 

“You know pretty much everything about me there is to know, Mags.” Alec answers. He’d told a lot about himself in those first few days, so that their relationship had depth from the very beginning. Magnus knew all the basic stuff he needed to know. 

 

“I know your favourite colour, and the foods you hate to eat. But that’s kind of it, Alec. And since we’re spending so much time together, it’s odd not knowing what goes on in that brain of yours.” Magnus has a point. “I’ll start. I’ve known Raphael for 7 years.”

 

“Your roommate Raphael?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“But I thought he doesn’t like you?”

 

“Oh, he loves me. He just likes being on his own. And he gets annoyed with new people.”

 

Magnus sits up again, he spins around, his legs dangling off the side of his bed this time. 

 

“How do you know him?” Alec asks. He’s slightly embarrassed he hadn’t asked a lot about Magnus’ past. This piece of information feels so vital. Like something he already should have known. At least they’re getting there now. 

 

“I took him under my wing when he hit a rough patch. He even stayed with me for a little while when he’d ran away from home. We’ve been best friends ever since.” Alec hadn’t seen Magnus this serious yet. It was obvious that this was a pretty heavy subject. Alec doesn’t even know what to say or ask about it anymore. 

 

“I have a little brother.” Alec says eventually.

 

“I would hardly call Jace little…”

 

“No, a little brother. Max.” 

 

Magnus’ eyebrows rise up, obviously surprised.  “How come you’ve never told me that before?” 

 

“It’s a long, or well, a complicated story.”

 

“I’ve got time. Tell me.” 

 

Alec sighs. Max wasn’t Alec’s favourite subject to talk about, although he used to be. “My parents… Well my dad, he got offered a very demanding job around the time we all graduated high school. So while Izzy, Jace and I were preparing to start uni here… My dad was preparing for his new job. They send Max to a private, year-round school in Mumbai.”

 

The story wasn’t that heavy or emotional. It’s just that Alec is constantly reminded of Izzy’s heartbreak when she found out what her parents were about to do to Max. 

 

“Damn,” Magnus starts, “How old is he?” 

 

“Nearly 12 now. He’s there all alone while we’re here together… Izzy took it the hardest. We all miss him, though.” 

 

Magnus jumps of his bed and walks towards Alec. He expects Magnus to say something apologizing, or something else cringe worthy. But instead, Magnus kneels down in front of Alec and says: “My ex-girlfriend is a psychopath”.

 

Alec bursts into laughter and Magnus follows suit. Magnus actually doubles over, having to steady himself by leaning against Alec’s legs. As their laughing clears up, their eyes lock. If Alec would just lean forward... They barely even realize that the door is being thrown open. 

 

“Didn’t you say your boyfriend had a single room?”

 

“Good evening, Raphael! I was just telling Alexander about Camille.” 

 

“Must that be done on my floor?” 

 

“I see you’re in a good mood.” Magnus says while getting up from the floor. If this was supposed to be Raphael’s good mood, Alec didn’t wish to encounter him on one of his bad days. He watches Raphael take off his jacket and throwing it in the general direction of the door, closing it in the process. 

 

“Soo… Psychopathic ex-girlfriend?” 

 

“You don’t want to know.” Raphael mumbles under his breath. He throws himself on his own carefully made bed before picking up a book that was laying on his pillow. Magnus had told Alec before that Raphael had let him decorate the entire room, except for Raphael’s bedsheets. That explained why he had black sheets, and not something with the purple/gold/maroon scheme Magnus had going on everywhere else.

 

“In every healthy relationship, the subject of ex-lovers will come up. And I feel like Camille should be talked about, since she’s going to this fine university as well.” Magnus stands up and walks towards his self fabricated mini-bar. He settles on a bottle that holds a liquid in a colour that doesn’t look very appetizing to Alec. Magnus offers it to him and Alec shakes his head. Magnus shrugs and retrieves a single glass.

 

“I’m getting curious. What’s she done?” Alec asks as he gets up out of his chair. 

 

“We’ve dated for two months when I’d just started here. And then she cheated on me, several times. I ended it, but she comes back a lot. Saying that monogamy doesn’t exist.” 

 

What started as the beginning of a funny story quickly turned into a heartbreaking story. Alec watches Magnus as he throws back the shot he poured. He crosses his arms in front of his chest and leans towards Magnus’ desk. “I’m sorry, Magnus.” He says, not sure what else to say.

 

“Why are you sorry? As long as you don’t cheat on him.” Raphael pipes in, his nose still deep in his book. Magnus rolls his eyes. 

 

“Don’t worry, Raph. Alec’s too much of a softie for that.” Magnus says while staring right at Alec, smirk on his face. 

 

Alec smiles back, putting his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. 

 

“Okay! That’s my cue to leave.” Alec’s automatic pilot wants to head for the door but he stills. He looks at Raphael, still very much so immersed in his book. But they’d agreed, Raphael must be fooled as well. He turns back at Magnus before taking the steps to stand right in front of him. He puts his hand on the back of Magnus’ neck, pulling him closer. 

 

He proceeds in kissing Magnus, right on the lips. It is definitely not the first kiss they’ve shared but it feels like the most intimate so far, with a third party in the room. He pulls away after a couple of seconds, nearly whispering a ‘I’ll see you tomorrow’ before turning on his heels and exiting the room. 

 

He swears he hears Raphael yell a faint ‘yuck’ as he walks down the hallway.

 

* * *

 

They’re a month into their little scam, and Alec’s not at all that worried anymore. Well, not as worried as right at the start. Simon and Jace are completely buying the whole thing. Isabelle is as well, asking for details about all his dates. The only one who he feels he isn’t fooling is Clary. 

 

However, Jace and Simon are definitely convinced Magnus is head over heels in love with Alec. The boy honestly deserves an Oscar-award for his outstanding performance. Meanwhile, Alec has gotten a lot more comfortable around Magnus. Not that it took very long, since Magnus makes it way too easy for people to like him. He’s even become friends with his siblings, sort of, since their friendship is pretty much build on top of a web of lies. 

 

But it’s nice. Alec’s got his two siblings and their partners who he sometimes likes, and next to that, a person to constantly hold hands with. Which, if Alec is brutally honest with himself, is something he’d really missed.

 

There’s also quite a lot of kisses now, at this one month mark. Magnus had said to Alec that it was a habit of his, something he was used to doing whenever he was in a relationship, fake or not. 

 

There’s also quite a lot of kisses right now, in this moment, while the six of them are at McDonalds’. And it’s pissing Jace off. 

 

“Can you two stop sucking faces for like, 5 minutes? It’s getting gross.” Magnus giggles and pulls away from Alec, turning towards Jace, who’s got an angry scowl on his face.

 

“Jonathan, I thought you were so proud of your darling brother for getting a boyfriend. You should be encouraging this public display of affection!” Magnus answers. He has a way of playing Alec’s friends, he knows exactly what to say in each moment. It works in the elaborate situation they’re in, because his friends think Alec stays quiet because he feels bad towards Magnus. If only they knew the truth. 

 

“Oh, I am very proud. But no need for visuals. Our audio, for that matter. So don’t get any ideas.” Jace says before huffing and grabbing his phone out of his jeans-pocket, his thumb rubbing over his screen with a certain amount of violence. In response, Magnus laughs and steals one of Alec’s fries. 

 

While Clary wraps her arm around Jace’s waist and whispers something in his ear only for him to hear, and Simon and Isabelle get lost in their own conversation, a pout appears on Alec’s face. “Hey, I was gonna eat that.” Alec huffs. He has learned that Magnus likes to tease like that, to keep the people around him on their toes. At least, that’s how he described it to Alec. Magnus just shrugs and eats the fry.

 

“Thank you, Alexander.” Magnus says and Alec lightly punches him in the shoulder, pretending to be mad. Even if the fond smile didn’t already give him away, Magnus has also gotten to know Alec a lot better during the past month, and Magnus knows he doesn’t mean it. So he kisses Alec on his nose, leaning back with a smile just as fond.

 

“Okay, this is where I draw the line. That is the grossest thing I’ve ever witnessed.” Jace tells them. Alec shoots him a look that’s a combination of ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘you have brought this on yourself, deal with it’. Magnus however, turns his attention to his red-headed girlfriend.

 

“Clary, biscuit, please introduce your boyfriend to the wonderful world of romance.” Magnus tells Clary, his smile not leaving his face. It does worry Alec a little how well Magnus and Clary seem to get along. Alec knows Clary does not approve of what Alec’s done at all, even though he didn’t actually do what she thinks he did. Still, he’s waiting for the day she’s going to say something, anything, that will ruin his chances of winning the money. 

 

“Oh believe me, I’ve tried. Several times. There’s no romantic bone in this gorgeous body.” Clary answers while poking Jace in his stomach. At first, Jace smiles, obviously reacting on the last part that Clary had said. But then.

 

“Hey! I am very romantic! I bought your flowers last week!” 

 

“You plucked them out of someone’s garden, and your reason was that her ass looked good that day.” Isabelle pipes in, her arms folded across her chest. She looks very amused by this argument. Clary does not.

 

“ _ That’s  _ why you bought them? And you didn’t even buy them? Jace!” Clary scolds. 

 

Alec leans back in his chair. He tends to be a little bit on edge in the presence of these five people, but he gets more and more relaxed by the day. Especially when the attention is not on him. He smiles as he watches his friends and boyfriend tease Jace. 

 

* * *

 

They had reached the halfway point in Alec and Magnus’ fake-relationship. And of course Clary was going to confront him about it. And of course she would pick a day on which Alec had been working on an essay in the library all day. He’d almost finished it, but he’d decided to get some well needed rest before looking it over again the next day. 

 

Clary wasn’t going to give him that rest. 

 

“Alec Lightwood, you and I need to have a serious talk!” He hears her before she sees her. He’s so close to locking himself up in his dorm-room, but that wasn’t going to happen now. He stops in his tracks and lets Clary catch up to him. He can hear the angry powerwalk his fiery sister-in-law is doing, making Alec sigh. 

 

“Here we go.” He mumbles, closing his eyes before he turns around to face Clary. There’s an obvious scowl on her face. “Hello Clary, how are you today?” He softly asks her before all hell will break loose. 

 

“Don’t ‘hello’ me! You know damn well why I’m here.” She says and she’s absolutely right. He knows all too well what has gotten her this worked up. 

 

“I know. Will you allow me to make us some tea before you yell at me?” He asks her while crossing the last couple of steps towards the door of his dorm-room. He tries to find the key on his keyring, it takes longer than it normally would. He’s so tired. 

 

“Fine, but you won’t be able to get yourself out of this one.”

 

Alec opens the door and swiftly steps into the room, Clary following suit. He slings his backpack on to the ground and kicks the door shut. He rids himself of his jacket, trying to avoid looking at Clary during the entire process. He can hear her making herself comfortable on his bed while he makes his way to his water boiler in the area he deemed his kitchen. 

 

“Which tea do you want?” He can hear the exhaustion in his voice, nearly cracking under the pressure of having to make noise. 

 

“Green tea, if you have it, please.” 

 

“Just with lemon…”   
  


“That’s fine.”

 

“Sugar?”

 

“Alec, you know I don’t drink tea with sugar. You’re stalling.”

 

“It was worth a shot.” Alec mutters as the boiler hits 100 degrees celsius. He grabs to cups and fills them halfway before literally throwing the teabags into them. He walks over to his bed and hands one to Clary, who blows into it once before setting it down on his nightstand. Alec takes a sip, burning is tongue, and follows Clary’s example of putting it down. 

 

“I’ll just come right out and say it: you’re a terrible human being for playing Magnus like that.” 

 

Alec looks down as his hands start fidgeting. His mind is working a mile a minute. Which lie would he tell her? Would he even tell her a lie? His brain is too tired to come up with a working lie to keep her in place. 

 

“Jace made me do it.” Is the first thing that comes out of his mouth. Good play, Alec. That definitely conjured a mental slap to the face.

 

“I’m not here to excuse the actions of my boyfriend but I’m also not here to blame him. It’s been over a month, Alec, and you’re leading him on. I see the way he looks at you.” Damnit. Damn Magnus’ amazing acting skills. Damn Clary’s observatory skills. 

 

“Clary…”

 

“And you know what, if the guy was a drag, I wouldn’t mind so much. But Magnus is an absolute sweetheart. He’s so nice to all of us and I get along with him so well! He’s too good to be played like that. And you’re usually not the guy to be this mean! I don’t understand why you-”

 

“Clary!” He interrupts her. He’s still looking down in his lap, but his hands are now up in the air, attempting to not only verbally, but also physically interrupt her. He’s tired, and he doesn’t realize that he’s saying the words until they’re out of his mouth. “He’s in on it.” 

 

Clary does a double take, now it’s  _ her _ mind that’s racing a mile a minute. 

 

“What  _ exactly  _ do you mean by ‘he’s in on it’?” She says after she’s recovered from her slight shock situation. There’s only one word running through Alec’s mind and it’s on repeat:  _ Damnit _ . 

 

“I’m not playing with him, because I told him what Jace dared me to do on day one.” 

 

There it is. The truth is out. That’s it. The end. Clary will tell Jace and Simon and the bet will be off, the money will be out of the question and he will have dragged Magnus into this mess for absolutely nothing. He slumps against the wall. Even though he’s panicking, it doesn’t feel good to for once, not lie to one of his friends. To tell the truth about the whole ordeal. It felt like a relief. Until realizing that Clary will end him regardless.

 

“He… He knows? So that means…” 

 

“It means,” Alec starts. It’s over now, might as well explain the whole thing. Making sure Clary knows he isn’t actually as cruel as she thought he was. “that night I ‘allegedly’ asked Magnus out, I told him about what Jace and Simon told me to do for money. I, it sounds pretty silly looking back on it, but I asked him if he wanted to pretend with me, for half of the money. And he agreed.” 

 

It’s hard to get the words out. Clary seems to understand the situation and moves closer to him. She’s too tiny to wrap an arm around his shoulders and for it to be comfortable but she cuddles up next to him, laying her head on his shoulders.

 

“I’m sorry, Alec. I should’ve known you’d never do something like that to anyone.” She says softly and Alec chuckles. 

 

“You have no reason to apologize. I lied. To all of you.” 

 

“So that’s why you have been looking so worried all the time. Scared we’d find out you cheated.” She asks him and he nods. 

 

“Yeah. But now you know. So it doesn’t matter anymore.” He reaches for his tea and finds it significantly cooled down. He takes a sip and feels it run down. The heat takes away some of his worst exhaustion. 

 

“Alec, I’m not gonna tell on you.” 

 

Alec nearly chokes on his tea. He sits up straight and puts the cup back onto his nightstand as fast as he can. She’s not going to tell on him? Why?

 

“Why wouldn’t you?” 

 

“Because Jace was out of line. He needs to be taught a lesson.” She says and Alec chuckles once again. He’s reminded of that first conversation with Magnus. He said the same thing while agreeing to his ridiculous proposal. “I’d like to help you out, if you’d let me. I really like Magnus. I don’t want either of you getting hurt by all of this.”

 

Alec frees his arm from in between them and wraps it around Clary, pulling her even closer. Alec thinks back at when Jace first introduced him to Clary and they completely got off on the wrong foot. He didn’t trust her at all. And now, she’s his closest friend outside of his siblings. Although she starts feeling like a sister more and more each day. This moment definitely is helping their bond.

 

“I would appreciate that.”

 

* * *

 

Even after the initial stupid situation Jace (and Simon) had forced him in, Alec had never hated his brother more than right in this moment. Alec was absolutely furious. 

 

So you see, there was a problem. He’d just gotten off the phone with his mom to talk about his birthday party. He was turning 21 this year and even though he didn’t want to make a big deal about it, his mom had insisted that she and his dad will come over to celebrate on campus. She’s told him that she would be expecting his siblings there as well, along with their partners.

 

Apparently, Jace already knew he was expected to be there, since he’d talked to their mom as well. 

 

It wouldn’t have been such a problem if Jace hadn’t let it slip that Alec had a ‘boyfriend’. 

 

And thus, Alec’s mom let him know that she was ‘so happy for him and wanted to meet the lucky chap as soon as possible’. At his birthday party, of course.

 

He’d have to take Magnus, his secret fake-boyfriend, to meet his family. His mom and dad.

 

He is going to kill Jace. Then bring him back to life, and then kill him again. 

 

Worst of it all was that Alec could hear the slight disappointment in the tone of his mother’s voice, about the fact that she had to hear about his boyfriend from Jace. Alec knew she’d understand why he didn’t tell her though, she’d always told him that it’s okay to take things slow in relationships and Alec had given exactly that excuse as to why he hadn’t told her before. 

 

But now he was stuck with this new, messed up situation. So Alec did the only thing that came to mind: he called Magnus.

 

The phone rang twice before he picked up. “Hello darling, I’m with Isabelle right now!” Magnus said as he answered Alec’s call. Of course he was with Izzy. Great. Now he’d have to get Magnus away from his sister. 

 

“Mags, I need to see you.” Alec says it and realizes right after that he could’ve phrased that a lot better. He could’ve said ‘hey, so this thing happened and I think we need to talk about it’ or ‘I hate Jace can you come over please we have a slight problem’. But no, Alec says the most domestic thing he could have. 

 

Or the most sexual, as Isabelle interpreted it. Alec could hear a faint ‘Oooooh, Alec, get it’ in the background on the other side of the line.

 

“Oh, uhm, I’m not sure if Isabelle is going to let me go…”

 

“Magnus, I… Please, I just need you here, okay, otherwise I might kill Jace.” And Alec knows he’s being a tiny bit of a drama queen but if that’s how he’s going to get Magnus to come and see him, so be it. Isabelle’s issues can’t be bigger than his right now, seeing as she’s a part of his problem.

 

“Okay okay, I’ll be there in 5 alright?!” Magnus tells him before he hangs up. Maybe this wasn’t Alec’s brightest idea, because now Izzy knew he is pissed and that it’s Jace’s fault, but he doesn’t really care at the moment. He just needs someone, or basically only Magnus, to calm him down a bit.

 

There wasn’t anyone else who would understand why Luke was so upset anyway. Okay, maybe he could’ve called Clary, but since she’s dating the devil in question, he didn’t really want to see her either. 

 

Alec estimates Magnus will take about 5 minutes to get from Izzy’s dorm to his own, so naturally, he paces around on the small patch of carpet on the ground until Magnus’ arrival. When he heard a knock he dived towards the door, throwing it open with what could be confused with a lot of enthusiasm. Alec was met with Magnus’ worried expression, instead of his trademark smile. Alec wants to hug him. He doesn’t. 

 

“What is wrong?” Magnus asks, not having moved from his spot outside of Alec’s dorm-room, seeing as Alec was blocking the way. He moves to the side, signalling Magnus to enter the premises. His so called ‘boyfriend’ takes a seat on his bed, not taking his eyes of Alec. 

 

“Jace is wrong. I hate him. I might kill him. Can I kill him? Please let me…” Alec rambles. He hasn’t rambled around Magnus for ages, but the rage he feels makes him do it anyway.

 

“Oh, Alexander, come here… What has he done? Can’t be that bad, right?” Magnus’ arms are out wide open, ready to embrace Alec. He takes a seat next to him instead, their shoulders and thighs touching. 

 

“He’s told my mom about you.” Alec mumbles. He’s calmed down a whole lot by now, and he wonders whether that was all thanks to Magnus’ presence, or that Alec’d had enough time to process everything by now.

 

“What’s wrong with- Oh…” Alec chuckles. He finds it funny how Magnus is so accustomed to Alec these days that he doesn’t immediately see the harm in Alec’s mom knowing about Magnus. It obviously took him a few seconds to realize that ‘knowing about Magnus’ means knowing they’re dating. 

 

“Yeah, oh. She wants to meet my boyfriend at my own birthday party, Mags.”

 

“Well, what’s a few more people added to the list of people we’re lying to?”

 

“She’s my mom!”

 

“Did you tell her Jace made that up? Or that he wasn’t telling the truth?”

 

“...No. But-”

 

“So you have kind of already lied to her, Alec. It’s… I understand if you’re uncomfortable with the situation but we’re too far in to quit now.”

 

Alec doesn’t understand how he’s found himself a guy like Magnus. An adventurous guy who’s up for anything and agrees to everything Alec’s stupid brain comes up with. Okay, so Alec didn’t actually find him, and they’re not in a real romantic relationship, but at the moment it feels like they are.

 

Because Magnus is going to meet his mother. And his father. And not just as friends. They’re going to have to act like a real couple whilst they’re visiting. He’s going to have to lie to his mom right before her eyes. He looks up at Magnus, who’s already staring at him.

 

“You’re amazing, you know that? No one else would have done all this, for me.” Alec says softly. He’s resisting the urge to cuddle up to Magnus, to bury his face into his neck, leaving feather-like kisses down his skin. Alec had never known he had this much self-control. With that, Alec had never been this grateful for a room of his own, without a possible roommate to barge in and disturb the moment. 

 

“Give yourself some more credit, Alexander. There’s tons of people who’d love to do stuff for you if you asked them.” Magnus says while removing his arm from in between their bodies and putting it around Alec, effectively holding him. They both know that while what Magnus said is probably true, not a lot of people would’ve agreed to this specific situation, but Alec chooses not to address that. He lets it rest. 

 

“We are gonna have to go over some details before you meet my parents. They can both be either very chill about all this, or,” Alec takes a deep breath, he’s really not sure how his parents will react. Alec’s never brought a boy home before. Just a girlfriend this one time when he was 15, he was young and scared, so he doesn’t know what they’ll do. “we’ve got to be prepared for the worst.” 

 

Magnus lets out a laugh and Alec’s glad he’s not enraged anymore, or he might have tried to punch Magnus’ lights out. Who laughs at times like these?

 

“You make it sound like we’re entering a warzone. How bad can it be? By the way, moms love me.” And okay, Alec has to laugh at that.

 

“I’m sure they do.” Alec finally gives in to the temptation and rests his head against Magnus’ shoulder. He’s gotten pretty tired from his fit and he’s pretty sure him and Magnus are close enough now that it’s permitted. They do kiss on a daily basis, so a head-on-shoulder won’t be such a big deal.

 

“When is the big party?” Magnus asks and Alec realizes he should’ve probably mentioned that earlier in the conversation.

 

Next week, on Saturday. So, I hope you’re free.”

 

* * *

 

Alec had never been this unexcited for a birthday. Granted, he’d never really been excited for any birthday, but this one takes the cake.

 

Magnus, however, was really looking forward to it. After two months of spending a lot of time together, Magnus had heard quite a lot about Alec’s parents. A lot of good things, mostly, and it had made him curious as to how these people would be in real life.

 

Alec’s parents were due to arrive in an hour, and thus, he was pacing around his dorm-room. An amused looking Magnus sitting lazily on his bed, watching him create an indent in the floor. Magnus would put a halt to him if it wasn’t so funny to him.

 

“Why aren’t you worried?” Alec finally asks when he snaps out of it. His hair is sticking in a thousand different directions from continuously running his hands through it, his cheeks a rosy glow from the stress he’s build up inside himself.

 

“Why should I be?” Magnus answers, making Alec run another hand through his hair, messing it up even more.

 

“Well, I don’t know, maybe because  _ my parents are coming over _ ?” Alec says, throwing his hands into the air for dramatic flair. 

 

“You’ve made them sound lovely. Also, we’ve been pulling this stunt off for two months, Alexander. If we’ve fooled your brother and sister, who you see daily I might add, your parents won’t be a problem.” Magnus gets up from the bed and takes a step to be right in front of Alec. He puts his hands on Alec’s shoulders, feeling just how tense he really is. “Stop worrying. It’s going to be fine. Now come here.” Magnus says before pulling Alec in a tight hug. Alec slumps down into his arms, letting all the muscles in his upper body relax.

 

Until the door bangs open, revealing Jace and Clary. Alec immediately jumps away from Magnus. 

 

“Oh I’m sorry, did we interrupt something?” Jace asks, a smirk on his face. Alec can see Clary rolling her eyes. 

 

“Jace, how many times do I need to remind you. Not every hug is sexual.” She says while she shrugs off her jacket. 

 

“It’s  _ who  _ you’re hugging that matters, Clary.” He answers while closing the door behind them. “Izzy couldn’t decide what to wear so, her and Simon are delayed.” 

 

Alec sighs. Isabelle tend to be late, but he was really hoping that both his siblings would be by his side before their parents would arrive. Actually, he was just hoping Izzy would be by his side. Jace could distract, sure, but he also could be a little shit and throw him under the bus. At least Izzy would try to help him. She’d distract and rescue. 

 

“So when are mom and dad arriving?” Jace asks, making Alec look down at his watch. It’s a quarter past two, meaning they should be there in forty five minutes. Alec takes a deep breath.

 

“In forty five minutes or so.” Alec knows he has some time left to mentally prepare himself, but having Jace in the room isn’t helping. He feels something grab his hand. He looks down and sees Magnus’ hand wrapped around his own. He looks up and sees a soft, but reassuring smile on Magnus’ face. Magnus squeezes once before letting go again. 

 

Right. He’s not alone in this. He still has Magnus. 

 

Jace walks towards the snacks Alec had put together while Clary steps towards himself, putting her hand on his arm, leaning in to whisper an ‘I’ve got your back’. She gives him a smile and drapes herself over his couch. In that moment, Alec is so glad he had told her the truth, especially since her attitude would’ve been destructive if she’d still been in the dark about things. 

 

Alec takes another deep breath, before turning towards Jace. 

 

“Jace, those snacks aren’t just for you.” 

 

And go.

 

* * *

 

“I’m so glad we got all those people out the door. So intense.” Alec says as his family has finally cleared out of his room after his birthday party. It’s just him and Magnus now. Magnus offered to help clean up the place, and Alec’s mom wouldn’t let him say no to that offer. Even though he would’ve been fine cleaning up by himself.

 

“Alexander, it was just your family.” 

 

“The Lightwoods are a force to reckon with.”

 

“That they are. But, it went well I’d say.” Magnus says as he puts all of the trash he can find in one enormous trash bag, while Alec is sitting on his bed, contemplating about how the afternoon went. 

 

“You think so?” Alec asks him softly. Alec knows Magnus is right (isn’t he always) but it still doesn’t feel all that good to him. Maybe it’s the lingering guilt of lying to his parents about his relationship that isn’t really a relationship. Or the fact that Isabelle seems to get along with Magnus more as time passes. It could also be that he feels sorry for dragging Clary into his mess.

She acted as an absolute angel, butting in whenever Alec felt choked up, talking to his mom about something else. Magnus, as always, did the same. Great. He’s made two people fight his battles for him.

 

“Alexander,” Magnus starts. He drops the trash bag on the ground and makes his way to Alec’s bed, taking a seat next to him. “No one suspected anything. They liked me, alright? I don’t know why you were so worried about that.” Alec turns to Magnus because that had  _ not  _ been why Alec was worried, but he’s met with a smirk on Magnus’ face. Oh. 

 

“I’m starting to think there’s not a person in this world who wouldn’t like you. If you’ve managed to please both my parents and that thing living in your room called Raphael, there’s no hurdle too big for the magnificent Magnus Bane.”

 

“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.” 

 

“Me neither. This entire thing, it exhausts me so much.” 

 

Magnus sighs. He puts a hand on Alec’s back and rubs comforting circles in the material of Alec’s jumper making Alec close his eyes. “Only two more weeks to go.” 

 

With those words, Alec’s thoughts run through his mind like crazy. Two more weeks before this whole act will be stopped. Two more weeks of feeling guilty. Two more weeks until Jace and Simon have to pay up. Two more weeks of Magnus’ company. 

 

The latter actually sends a pang through his heart. 

 

“Yeah, two more weeks.” 

 

If Alec was thinking that he would miss Magnus after all of this was over, he wouldn’t admit to it. 

 

* * *

 

“So. Last day, huh?” Magnus says as they’re walking across campus from the library back to Alec’s building. Their hands are clasped together, swinging in between them. 

 

“Last day.” Today was the day Alec had been ignoring. Today marked the three month ‘anniversary’ of Magnus’ and Alec’s relationship, or agreement. Tonight, Jace and Simon would present him with the money. After tonight, this would all be over.

 

Alec had woken up that morning to two texts. One was from Jace, saying something along the lines that he hated him for winning and that he could come collect the money in the evening. The other came from Magnus, asking for a so called ‘last day date’. Which they just got back from.

 

Alec honestly didn’t think it would end like this. With a goodbye-dinner. 

 

“I’ll… bring you the money as quickly as I can.” Alec says, not daring to look at Magnus and show him the regret on his face. 

 

If he’d looked at Magnus, Alec might’ve noticed sadness on Magnus’ face.

 

“Oh, there’s no hurry there.” Magnus answers after about a minute of uncomfortable silence. Something’s already changed. 

 

“Magnus, I… I don’t think I can ever thank you properly. For everything you’ve done. I couldn’t have pulled this off without you.” Squeeze. 

 

“It was my pleasure. You were a fantastic boyfriend.” Magnus says and Alec both melts and feels like he’s being kicked in the gut. Past-tense. 

 

“Even if it was fake?” Alec asks him, finally turning to face Magnus.

 

“Mhmm. One day you’re going to make someone very happy.”

 

“Anyone would be lucky to have you in their life.” And Alec means it. 

 

“I’ll still be around, Alec.” 

 

Alec doesn’t know if his brain has short circuited or if he’s just being an idiot, but he wraps his arms around Magnus and pulls him close. He kisses him, more passionately than he ever has before. Magnus wraps his arms around Alec’s waist and kisses back with just as much electricity. When they part, Alec sees the shock that lingers in Magnus’ expression.

 

Magnus proceeds to pull away from Alec, sadness taking over the shock. 

 

“Goodbye, Alexander.” He says before walking away, leaving Alec by himself.  

 

* * *

 

It had been about a week since Alec had given the earned money to Magnus’ and he hadn’t seen or spoken to him since. It was odd. But the deal was done. 

 

He hadn’t been able to shake off the feeling of having done something wrong. He did lie to a whole bunch of people, including his parents, but that’s just because Jace and Simon made him, right? He wasn’t so sure anymore. He’d already taken them out to dinner, the girls included, which they had been very pleased about. But the rest of the money remained untouched. Alec felt more and more guilty every time he took a look at it.

 

Guilty for taking advantage of his friends’ money, guilty for disrupting Magnus’ social life. Guilty for missing Magnus’ presence in his daily life. 

 

“You’ve been awfully quiet… Even more than usual. Is something wrong?” Simon asks after Alec had just been sulking for hours. Alec, Jace, Isabelle and Simon were in the university’s library, trying to prepare for their exams, but Alec hadn’t really done or said much. Apparently, his friends had noticed. And that’s when, much to Alec’s dismay, Jace decides to get involved. 

 

“Yeah, and also, where’s Magnus?”

 

Alec finally makes eye contact with his friends, slightly offended by the question. It makes him snap. All the pent up rage and frustration from three entire months towards his siblings was coming out all in this one moment. “What do you mean, ‘ _ where is Magnus’ _ , obviously I broke up with him.” He stares Jace down in the most threatening way he can muster. Surprisingly, his gaze is met with confusion. He hears Izzy gasp on the side but decides not to change his stare. 

 

“The hell, why would you do that?” Jace says and Alec scoffs. 

 

“You are kidding, right? This has to be some sort of sick joke. You are  _ un _ believable.” Alec shifts his gaze to the textbook he’s been trying to read for the past few hours, but up until this point he hasn’t been able to read more than five pages. 

 

“No, I really thought you two had something…”

 

“Jace, you literally  _ dared  _ me to date him for three months. I did, and now the three months are up. So he’s gone. Suck it up.”

 

He doesn’t notice Jace, Isabelle and even Simon staring at him with sad eyes, too consumed with boiling hot rage. What the hell was Jace thinking? As if it weren’t their fault to begin with.

 

“Jace is right, you know? You and Magnus fit really well together.” Isabelle softly says, shoving her chair closer to Alec’s. She puts her hand on Alec’s arm and rubs soft circles over his shoulder blade. Alec is way too angry to push her off. 

 

“Izzy! It was fake! The whole relationship was fake.” Alec’s fists curl up into balls and he has to restrain himself from punching the table. 

 

“Not for Magnus, it wasn’t.” Simon mumbles, but Alec hears him loud and clear. 

 

“For Magnus as well! Did you all really think I’d date a guy just for money and dump him as soon as it’s over? God, you actually think I’m that much of an asshole? I told Magnus right from the start, okay?!” Alec’s voice raises to a level not appropriate for a library, but he does not care at the moment. “He knew it wasn’t real. Everything was fake. Every. Single. Thing.” 

 

The students sitting at the tables around them are now shushing Alec, seeing as he brought up quite the commotion. His siblings are staring at him in shock, wide eyes and mouths agape. That is, until Jace snaps out of it. 

 

“Knew it was odd he’d agreed to date you.” He says and Izzy whacks him over the head. Alec rolls his eyes, of course Jace would make a comment like that, making Alec feel even worse about himself. 

 

“Jace, you dick, shut up.” Izzy scolds before turning back to Alec. “You… faked it? You didn’t ask him out on an actual date, but you asked him to… what actually, pretend to date you so you could get some money?” Izzy’s hand had left Alec’s shoulder for a minute of two, but she puts it back in the exact same spot, this time, having a tight grip on Alec’s shirt.

 

“I offered him half of the cash.” 

 

“I can’t believe it. Did you like, stage kiss? It looked very convincing…”

 

“Maybe you need to become an actor, Alec. I can’t believe you got me thinking you got laid.” 

 

Alec had calmed down considerably, a wave of exhaustion washing over him. This always happens whenever he is enraged. He’d yell until he’d break. He couldn’t figure out how to feel, or even how he should be feeling about the entire situation anymore. The lines between being mad and sad blur by the minute. 

 

Alec also doesn’t know that if he was mad, who his anger was directed at. At Jace, for starting this mess. At Magnus, for agreeing to pretend. Or at himself, for every single choice he’d made in the three months previous. 

 

The silence around him made him feel even more on edge, making him want to leave. So he does. 

 

“Thanks, guys. Thank you so much. Best friend award goes to you. Have a nice day.” Alec says before collecting his stuff, getting up and walking away from his friends, leaving them baffled. 

 

Alec leaves the library and makes his way to his dorm-room. Ready to sulk underneath his comfortable blankets for the rest of the day. 

 

* * *

 

Alec remembers it vividly. He remembers standing right in this exact spot a little over three months ago. He remembers how nervous he’d been to ask practically a stranger to go out with him for a while. And now he’s here again, about to knock on Magnus’ door. 

 

If you’d ask Alec if he’d missed Magnus, he’d deny it immediately. He’d say that, no, of course he didn’t miss the boy he pulled into a complicated relationship. But he’d be lying. 

 

Jace and Isabelle had made his mind race. He couldn’t stop thinking about the words they said to him. (He also couldn’t shake the urge to murder both of them.)  Was their act really that convincing? Did his own brother and sister, who dared him to do this, mind you, really see something more than an out of hand gotten practical joke. 

 

Did Magnus put up an act the entire time? Did Alec? Or was there something more going on that Alec hadn’t really realized yet? Did Magnus know? 

 

He knocks. Two knocks this time around. Alec again has no clue what he should say or do if Magnus opens the door. It all reminds him too much to this moment three months ago. Back then he also had no clue what to say if Magnus was home.

 

He hears the door being opened and braces himself.

 

“Oh! It’s the culprit himself!” That’s not Magnus.

 

That’s Raphael. And he looks angry. Raphael steps out into the hall, making Alec take two steps back, creating enough space between himself and the furious roommate. Raphael shuts the door behind him.

 

“You have some nerve showing up here after you broke his heart! I’ve been trying to get him to leave this room for the entire week!” 

 

It’s a good thing Alec hadn’t known what he was going to say, because he would’ve forgotten it all by now. 

 

“I didn’t… I did?” 

 

“You might be taller than me but I’m not afraid to fight you.” 

 

The door opens again and reveals Magnus, in a state Alec never really sees him in. He’s in the most cozy clothes ever, not in his usual extravagant clothes made from fabrics Alec can’t even pronounce. They’re black, a colour Alec had never seen him in before. His hair undone and make-up very, very minimal. He looks properly broken up with.

 

“Thank you, Raphael. I can take it from here.” Magnus says, his voice fragile and Alec feels like a douchebag. 

 

“Are you sure? I’m willing to bash his head into the wall.” Raphael crosses his arms in front of his chest and makes himself look broader than he is, trying to intimidate Alec. It’s working. 

 

“Why don’t get us some coffee, hm?” Magnus tells him. Raphael grumbles but walks away anyway, muttering a ‘don’t say I didn’t warn you’ as he does. 

 

“Did you want to come in?” Magnus asks Alec and even though Alec is very, very confused, he manages to nod. Magnus opens the door further, creating space for Alec to step through. 

 

He closes the door behind him as Magnus makes his way to a pillow fort he seemed to have build on top of his bed. He climbs in the mountain of pillows and Alec is stumped. 

 

“Raphael said I broke your… What’s going on?” He eventually says. Nice one, Alec. 

 

“Raphael likes to exaggerate.” Oh. Okay then. “Why are you here, Alec?” 

 

“I… don’t… Listen, Magnus. I wish I could… You’re confusing me.” 

 

“Ha.  _ You’re  _ confusing  _ me _ .” Magnus retaliates. Good point, Alec is probably also causing his own confusion. He steps closer to Magnus’ bed, standing in front of him. Magnus looks up to him, looking exceptionally small. 

 

“I’m sorry??” Alec asks, and Magnus raises his eyebrows, clearly not impressed. 

 

“For what?” 

 

“For… Getting you like this. Why exactly are you like this?” Could it be that Magnus has had the same conflicting feelings Alec had? Did they really have something without either of them realizing it? 

 

Magnus doesn’t give him an answer. He just stares. As if Alec had to work this one out for himself. It stays quiet for a while, both of them simply looking at each other. Alec hasn’t got an idea of how much time passes. 

 

When Magnus eventually  _ does _ give him an answer, it’s so soft Alec barely catches it. 

 

“I think I miss you.” 

 

There. It’s out there. The answer Alec was subconsciously looking for. The past week hadn’t been great for Alec either, especially after he’d realized that he was miserable not for just missing having a boyfriend, he missed Magnus. 

 

Magnus always knew what to say or how to touch him to make him relax. He was an escape from his crazy siblings. Magnus had been amazing, and Alec didn’t appreciate it enough. Not until he was gone. 

 

“I want to kiss you.” Alec croakes out. 

 

“Listen, Alec, I realize I agreed to fake date you but that doesn’t mean you can waltz in here whenever you please because you need a… a… romance buddy or-”

 

“No! I don’t mean it like that! I think I… I  _ know  _ I missed you too. I’m…” Alec struggles to find the right words to say. “I don’t know when this changed. I don’t know when you went from a friend to something more but, it happened. And if you don’t feel the same then I, I’ll leave. But I honest to god want to kiss you more than anything in the world. I missed  _ you _ , not your intimacy. Well, that too but I-”

 

“Alexander, kiss me.” 

 

And he does.  

 

* * *

 

“So let me get this straight,” Jace says as the six of them are having lunch in a cafe right off campus, “You guys faked your relationship for three months, fell in love, kinda sorta really broke up, then got back together, but for real this time? I have a headache.” 

 

“Also, I can’t believe you told Clary, but not me.” Isabelle adds. 

 

Alec and Magnus had just told the entire story, from A to Z. Jace and Isabelle were still in shock about everything, mainly their older brother deceiving them like that, while Clary and Simon were just happy everything was resolved now. However.

 

“You guys are paying for this lunch though. I’ve given you enough money as it is.” Simon says and Jace agrees. 

 

After their ‘getting back together’, Magnus kicked out Raphael for the night and they talked. Talked about what had happened along the way that got them to that place.

 

Alec had told him that at first, he just enjoyed the company of someone to call his own. That he enjoyed having a boyfriend to hold hands with and to hug and kiss. But that slowly, Alec simply wanted to hold  _ Magnus _ , not just anybody. That he wanted to kiss and kiss and kiss only him.

 

Magnus in turn had told him that he had been slowly woo’d by Alec’s interest in him and his compassion. His love for this siblings and friends was what really got to him though. After a while, the lines were so blurry that he couldn’t tell what was real and what was for show anymore. It’s why Magnus had been quite the mess after their ‘break-up’. It felt too real to let go.

 

Because once you cross the line, there is no going back. 

 

“I guess, since ultimately it’s you two who got us together, it’s the least we can do.” Magnus tells Jace and Simon.

 

“Oh god, please don’t encourage them…” Clary pipes in, knowing too well how her boyfriend and best friend would deal with this piece of information.

 

“Oh! See Alec, you owe me man!”

 

“Thanks, Mags.” 

 

“My pleasure, darling.” 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I feel like the ending is a bit rushed, apologies.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed


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